Marseille star Dimitri Payet was left out of France’s World Cup squad announced by coach Didier Deschamps on Thursday, completing a miserable 24 hours for the playmaker.
The former West Ham United player was forced off with a hamstring injury in the first half of Marseille’s Europa League final defeat against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, and that fitness doubt persuaded Deschamps to leave him out of the squad of 23.
“Dimitri Payet was a serious candidate for a place in the squad. He played the first half-hour (against Atletico), but he aggravated his injury, and the recovery time needed for that type of injury is three weeks,” Deschamps said after revealing his squad live on television station TF1’s evening news programme.
“But as it is a muscle injury, there is a risk of a relapse.”
Payet was one of France’s stars at Euro 2016, when they reached the final as hosts before losing to Portugal.
But he has also fallen victim to the number of attacking options available to Deschamps, who did call up Payet’s Marseille team-mate Florian Thauvin along with Lyon captain Nabil Fekir.